The truth about the cost of living in Australia1:02

We've all heard a lot about the cost of living pressures in Australia. But just how expensive is it to live in each state?

January 8th 2018

a year ago

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One-in-four flats are now empty in some suburbs.Source:Supplied

A RECORD glut of vacant apartments across Sydney suburbs is creating “zombie blocks” where one-in-four flats are now empty.

Figures released yesterday showed there are 19,572 properties sitting vacant — with Kellyville in the Hills region the worst hit area.

But even the eastern suburbs has more homes up for rent than ever before.

And housing experts said the oversupply was only going to get worse as high-rise projects committed to during the housing boom still only halfway through construction are finished.

An apartment block on Caddies Boulevard in Rouse Hill which has several vacant properties.Source:Supplied

Property valuation firm SQM Research’s director Louis Christopher said the vacancy rates were no seasonal blip, and landlords would have to get used to the idea that renters now have the upper hand in negotiations.

Rents across Sydney have already fallen 2.2 per cent for the year. Its data showed the Hills in Sydney’s northwest was worst ­affected region, with 1160 properties — 4.9 per cent of all rentals — vacant.

But other dead zones were dotted throughout Sydney, with the lower north shore showing 740 rental properties vacant or 4.1 per cent of stock, while on the north shore there were 2200 vacancies, or 3.6 per cent.

For Lease signs outside a block of units in inner Sydney. Picture: AAPSource:istock

A record 3450 rental homes, or 3.1 per cent of stock, were empty in the eastern suburbs three weeks after first being listed.

Kellyville was the suburb with the single highest vacancy rate of 7 per cent.

Tanya and her son Isaac, 16, live in a block where many of the apartments are vacant. Picture: David SwiftSource:News Corp Australia

Pressure on landlords to cut rents remained the greatest in city regions heavily supplied with new housing.

This included Hills District suburb Kellyville, where 7 per cent of rentals were currently without a tenant, and additional CoreLogic data showed weekly unit rents dropped an average of $48, or 8 per cent, for the year.

In the Hills as a whole — where a slew of housing projects have been released for the opening of the Sydney Metro Norwest rail line next year — the vacancy rate was an unusually high 4.9 per cent.

The glut is the result of a surge in building completions and a slowdown in population growth driven by high interstate migration to Queensland.Source:News Corp Australia

This helped push typical weekly rents down $82, or 12.2 per cent, in local suburb Box Hill and by about $20 in nearby Beaumont Hills and Castle Hill.

The lower north shore had a similarly high vacancy rate of 4.1 per cent — based on the number of online rental listings still advertised after more than three weeks.

Rental falls in that region were led by the suburb of Castle Cove, where typical weekly rents dropped 21.1 per cent, or $240, followed by Cremorne with a drop of 15.9 per cent, or $213.

Landlords would need to adjust to the changed climate, Mr Christopher said.